College Students and Obesity Essay Example

Have you ever heard of “freshman ten?” How about the “freshman thirty?” These are some deadly terms students should try to avoid. They refer to the amount of weight gained during a student’s first year at a college. During college years, students are still developing the physical and social changes of their life (French). During these years, they demand for more energy and nutrition. The problem is that they are not eating healthy enough. College students must learn how to make the right decisions to prevent obesity from taking over. Decisions such as avoiding fast food, watching the amount of alcohol intake, and sleeping and exercising regularly. However, it is very difficult to make such decisions because we do not have that much time in our busy lives. Take Kevin Tran, a student at the University of Arkansas- Fort Smith (UAFS), for example--he complains, “Man, I don’t have the time to make myself a meal, so I just go through the drive-thru at El Super Taco.” Unhealthy decisions like these are made every day by students. Imagine if the majority of the population at UAFS are like him. Then we are all doomed. “Colleges should implement programs to increase student awareness of healthy weight management methods and the importance of physical activity combined with a healthy diet” (Lowry). A healthy diet is very important in one’s life. Of course we hear this all the time, but can you really maintain a healthy diet with the time we have in our busy lives? The life of typical college students consist of school, work, homework, studying, parties, more homework and more parties. While juggling all these activities, we sometimes forget to eat so to satisfy our ever-growing hunger, we turn to fast food, “foods that are high in fat and are low intake in foods with fiber, fruits, and vegetables” (French). Why do we do it? Because it is cheap, delicious, and of course fast. McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Taco bell are just a few fast food restaurants that roam the